RD36 - Annual Report to the General Assembly on the Consumer Affairs Activities of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for 2008


Executive Summary:
The Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) in the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Division of Consumer Protection serves as the clearinghouse for the collection, investigation, or referral of consumer complaints. OCA’s legal authority to receive and investigate complaints regarding illegal, fraudulent, or deceptive business practices is provided in Title 3.2, Chapter 1 of the Code of Virginia.

OCA is committed to providing timely and professional services to consumers, businesses and regulated entities alike. To facilitate those services, OCA is divided into three functional areas. In addition to complaint intake, consumer counseling and the investigation of consumer complaints, OCA also administers seven regulatory programs, provides dispute resolution services, and conducts consumer awareness and education initiatives.

This report highlights key performance indicators in the consumer affairs activities of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services including complaint workload, total value of consumer recoveries, number of calls to the Consumer Protection Hotline, number of registrations granted and amount of surety held, as well as fraud prevention outreach efforts.